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A Dialogue Among Genres During the Late Eighteenth Century

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A Dialogue Among Genres During the Late Eighteenth Century A Dialogue among Genres during the Late Eighteenth Century: Conjectural History and Travellers’ Textual and Visual Representations of Cultures of the Near East and India by Pamela M. Barber A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Mediations Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario 2016 Abstract This dissertation explores the part played by historical frameworks of thought in the interpretation and representation of unfamiliar cultures. Examining works produced by British travellers to the Near East and India during the period of the Scottish Enlightenment, I argue that a significant and reciprocal relationship was found among the genres of historical writing and travellers’ textual and visual representations of distant societies during the late eighteenth century. With social change accompanying rapid growth in commerce and global trade, ideas put forward in the new sub-genre of conjectural history served as a framework in the interpretation of all cultures, whether in Europe or in distant regions of the globe. While conjectural historians used the information provided by travellers in developing a new meta-narrative of history, travellers’ representations in turn reflected the historical frameworks of the time. All aspects of societies could be discussed within the framework of stadial theory, including political structures and systems of jurisprudence, social structures, material culture, and architecture. In addition, I argue that representations of distant societies were framed within the European aesthetic categories of central influence during the period, such as the sublime and the picturesque, while at the same time extending the subject matter typically associated with those categories. Further, an interplay of aesthetic and historical frameworks of thought is evident in late eighteenth-century representations of distant cultures. This dissertation offers a close historicizing of a particular moment in Enlightenment thought in light of the many critiques put forward following the late ii eighteenth century concerning the assumptions, methodologies, and theories of the conjectural historians. The comparative method explored by conjectural historians, which encompassed observations spanning centuries as well as continents, led to a highly influential body of thought concerning the interconnections among economic, political, and social structures in societies. The differing types and degrees of distance characterizing the genres of historical writing and travellers’ representations played a part in a dialogue of reciprocal reference, in which the close details of lived experience informed a removed, philosophical gaze as British travellers and conjectural historians attempted to mediate cultural distance. iii Acknowledgements With much gratitude, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support of my dissertation supervisor, Mark Salber Phillips. I have enjoyed our countless conversations throughout this project, and I have felt extremely fortunate knowing that I could count on his experience, perception, and judgment, not to mention his erudition and vast store of knowledge. I have appreciated his understanding that in a work of this scope, one must spend time exploring various approaches and avenues of research. His guidance in relation to some of these avenues, in addition to some of the ideas put forward in his own work, have played a central role in shaping this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the members of my Committee, Danielle Kinsey and Julie Murray. The helpful recommendations that they offered, as well as our enjoyable conversations, were much appreciated. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the stimulating and supportive atmosphere of the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture (ICSLAC) at Carleton University. Through the courses I have taken in the Ph.D. program, the talks I have attended, and the intellectual contribution of faculty from several disciplines, I have found encouragement in ICSLAC in pursuing a truly interdisciplinary approach to complex questions in cultural studies. Lastly, I cannot end a section of acknowledgements without mentioning my son, Glen, with whom I have always shared lively conversations about any number of topics. Throughout every journey, he has been the centre of my world. iv Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………...…………………………… 1 Overview of Chapters ………………………………...…………………………………. 7 Critiques of, and Continuing Interest in, Conjectural History ……………………...….. 14 Chapter One – Late Eighteenth-century Historical Frameworks of Thought …….. 27 New Historiographical Horizons of the Late Eighteenth Century ………………...…… 28 Counter-narratives to Progress …………………………………………………………. 42 The Bookshelves of the Conjectural Historians: Sources of Information ………….….. 46 Experimental Forms of Conjectural History …………………………………...………. 58 A Dialogue with the Philosophes ……………………………………………………… 62 Anxieties regarding Change: Reflections of Edmund Burke …………………….…….. 73 Chapter Two – Travellers’ Representations during the Late Eighteenth Century: Epistemological Position among Genres ……………………………………………. 86 Stadial Ideas in Travellers’ Representations of Cultures ………………………………. 89 Travellers’ Representations in an Increasingly Commercial World …………………… 96 Formal Structure: Immediacy and Questions of Subjectivity …………………...……. 102 A Sentimental Acquisition of Knowledge ……………………………………………. 113 Pressing Political Issues ………………………………………………………………. 118 Chapter Three – Political and Social Structures in the Near East and India ……. 125 v Theories and Observations: The Near East ……………...……………………………. 127 Private Property: Nomadic Tribes ……………………………………………. 130 The Power of Monarchs: The Ottoman Empire ………………………………. 135 Individual Rights: The Status of Women in Eastern Societies ………….…….. 142 William Robertson’s Examination of Hindu Culture ………………………………… 146 James Mill: Another View within the Framework of Conjectural History …………... 155 Chapter Four – Luxury Debates and the Material Culture of the East ………….. 178 Contextualizing Late-eighteenth Trade with the East ………………………………… 182 Commerce and Luxury in the View of David Hume ……………………………...….. 186 British Appreciation of the Material Culture of the East ……………………..………. 190 Written Comments of Travellers and Conjectural Historians ……………..…. 190 Acquisition ……………………...…………………………………………….. 196 Imitation ………………………………………………………………………. 201 Visual Representation …………………………………………………...……. 205 Diverse Modes of Expression of Conflicting Attitudes …………………………….… 216 Chapter Five – Depictions of Architecture and Scenes of Daily Life: Historical Meditations regarding Achievement and Decline …………………………….…… 225 Travelling British Artists and Aesthetics in the Fine Arts ……………………………. 228 Architectural Encounters ………………………………………………………...…… 235 Classical Reference and Historical Allusion ………………………………………..… 238 Modes of Seeing: Aesthetic Categories and Depictions of Place …………………….. 243 vi Conjectural History in Visual Form …………………………………………………... 255 Perceptions of Decline: Musings regarding the Patterns of History ………...…..……. 265 Architectural Magnificence and Ruins ……………………………………………….. 271 Closing Comments – Scholarly Contribution ………………………………………. 276 Works Referenced …………………………………………………...……………….. 280 vii Introduction Questions concerning the interpretation and representation of cultures, whether close to home or far away, comprise a vast subject that has ranged across countless genres and academic disciplines in various changing forms throughout the centuries. The frameworks of thought, and the conventions of writing and visual representation, involved in the study of cultures reflect their historical moment. The aim of this thesis is to explore one area within this exceedingly broad field by examining the epistemological frameworks involved in the interpretation of unfamiliar cultures. More specifically, I will examine the role of historical frameworks of thought in travellers’ cultural interpretations and representations during the late eighteenth century. Cultures at a great distance could indeed be unfamiliar during the early modern period, before the relative ease of travel, the availability of images through advances in technology, and the increasing hybridity of today’s world. A significant and mutual challenge of interpretation could accompany the encounters that occurred with the expansion of global contact and trade. Historical narratives provided a significant source of reference in the attempts of late eighteenth-century travellers to interpret distant cultures. Reciprocally, travellers’ depictions of the details of everyday life in distant societies, in written accounts and visual representations, were viewed as a central source of evidence by philosophers and historians who were attempting to construct broad and general theoretical frameworks regarding the economic, political, and social aspects of cultures. A circular relationship of mutual reference existed between the works of late eighteenth-century travellers and historians, and the genres of historical writing, travellers’ written accounts, and visual 1 representations of distant lands may each be more fully understood if considered in relation to the others. In particular, I will examine the interconnections among these genres in relation to the textual and visual representations of British travellers to the Near East
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